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The Dalton Police Department is offering a women-only self-defense class in January that aims to help women get away from attackers and avoid dangerous situations.

"You're not going to walk out a black belt in karate, but these physical tactics are about escape," police spokesman Bruce Frazier said. "We're not teaching you how to fight; we're teaching you how to escape."

The department has offered the course several times and it always fills up fast, Frazier said. The 20-person course meets on four nights for three-hour sessions.

Training Officer Brian Pack leads the classes, and he said the first night focuses on avoiding potentially dangerous situations while the last three nights focus on physical techniques.

"We teach the women different techniques in order to create distance and do other things so they can get away from an attacker," Pack said. "We hope it never comes to that -- we hope no one in the class ever has to use the physical tactics -- but if it does reach that point, we're teaching some simple steps that can help them get away."

The free class meets from 6 to 9 p.m. on Jan. 15, 17, 29 and 31. Pack said keeping the course women-only is very important -- no men are allowed to participate or even observe the sessions.

"You never know who the potential attacker could be -- it could be someone very close to you, like a boyfriend, spouse, brother," he said. "If someone knows what techniques you're going to use, then they know how to counter it. So we try to keep that as confidential as we can."

The course is open to women ages 13 and up, although girls under 18 will need written permission from a parent or guardian. For more information, visit daltonpdblog.org.